Sadly, the world we live in right now changed many of our habits including attending our favorite live fitness class. But thanks to technology we can enjoy our daily dose of endorphin with our favorite instructor in the comfort of our own home.
Technology is great but it’s never without glitches. You might find your screen to be too small because you are using your phone or laptop, your webcam is in an odd position and can’t capture you from head to toe, the sound is not great because most computer sound canny. Here are some solutions that can help remediate to those problems.
MY SCREEN IS TOO SMALL
Using a laptop
If you are using a desktop or a laptop and it has an HDMI connection on it simply buy a long enough cable (especially if it’s a desktop) and connect it directly to your TV. Then select the right input on your TV and your TV should display exactly what you are seeing on your laptop. By connecting your laptop with HDMI your sound will also come out of your television.
What you will need:
- HDMI cable
- Laptop or desktop with HDMI connection
- TV with HDMI port.
- Connect everything together and this should be the result.
Using a phone
No laptop, no problem, even easier. You don’t have to squint anymore to look at that tiny phone screen and try figuring out what your instructor is doing. By using a little adapter, you can connect your phone to your TV and have a clearer image of what is happening. If using Android, you will need an HDMI to USB-C connector. Make sure what connector your phone has, micro usb or USB-C. For this option to work you will need a USB-C connection which most recent phones have.
If using Apple phone, you will need their proprietary HDMI to lightning connector. For apple we do recommend you purchase the apple brand adaptor as with our experience the generic one didn’t work. You can purchase those adapters at your local electronic store or online stores like best buy or amazon. They will run you around $20CAD for android and $65CAD for apple. Sorry Apple user ☹.
The adaptor I got for my android does not have a power input for it so make sure your phone is fully charged. 1hr zoom session drain my battery by 50%. Apple users are in luck as the adaptor has power plugin. I guess this makes up for the price.
The pros of this approach are you can place your camera at any angle you wish depending on the length of your HDMI cable and the instructor will be able to see you head to toe and give you better feedback to keep your form spot on. No need for extra computer, just log in to zoom from your phone and voilà!
What you will need:
- Phone android/apple
- HDMI cable
- TV
- HDMI adapter for Android / Apple
- Tripod, we use a full standing one but mini tripod or grip tripod work just as well.
MY WEBCAM DOESN’T CAPTURE IN FULL VIEW
So, you don’t want to kick out your family out the living room because they want to watch their favorite Netflix show while you exercise. You prefer to be in your own room but have no TV so you are stuck with your laptop or desktop and the webcam is oddly placed and the instructor can’t see you from head to toe. Here is a great fix to turn your phone into a webcam for free. Here is what to do.
1. Download this app on your laptop iriun.com
2. Download same app on your phone android or apple.
3. Use your charging cable or get an even longer one (mine is 20ft)
4. Connect your phone to your laptop with the charging cable.
5. Start the app on your computer.
6. Start the the iriun app on your phone. If it asks to enable USB debugging click YES.
7. At this point you should see on your computer screen in the iriun app what your phone is recording. Tada!
8. Now when you go in Zoom, there is a camera on the bottom left corner of your screen with a small arrow pointing up. Click on the arrow and you should see iriun camera. Select that option and you are set.
Quick note, the app also works with WIFI but this might interfere with your internet connection and drain the battery faster. Connected via cable is better but know that it also work with WIFI.
THE SOUND ON MY COMPUTER SOUNDS TINNY
Computer speakers are never great. Easy solution is to invest in some external speakers. Connect speaker to laptop with male to male wire and change the setting in zoom to headphone.
What you will need:
- Male to male audio wire
2. External speakers or sound system
3. Proper settings in Zoom
Quick note: yes many speaker can connect via bluetooth but it can also interfere with your wifi connection and make your connection glitchy so that is why we recommend a cable connection.
There you go, with these quick fixes you can drastically improve your virtual class experience with great sound, bigger view of your instructor to see every move and a full view of yourself for your instructor to give you better feedback. Get setup and see you in class.
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